Hi,
i'm reading a book (In Asia) by an italian writer (Tiziano Terzani) that's now pretty famous in Italy.
In this book there is an article talking about the foreign workers that were emplyed to teach various sciences back in the start of Meji era (1868). Well, there is a reference to a term: Yatoi and Terzani says: "they were brought in Japan as yatoi, 'living machines' (an interesting way to call foreigners)". I hate sarcasm in articles that should be informative :@, anyway there isn't the kanji and in all the rerences I found there isn't any meaning of this kind.
Did (again) the writer shuffle cards to support his anti-japanese style?
By the way someone knows him?

eheh chikara, that was the first thing that i did.
I know the 'nice' term is emplyee.
What I want to know is if in that time of Japan (Meji era) that meaning really meant what the writer says or if is there any hidden meaning to it. There are lot of words or expressions that, being vulgar or denigrating, aren't in a dictionary.
That's important to know for me because if this is wrong I'll start to question everything this man wrote.